Bench & Bar Games 2003 | The Law Awareness Weekend (‘LAW’) Programme 2003

Bench & Bar Games 2003

The History

The Bench and Bar Games have a long chequered history stretching all the way back to 1969. Each year, members of the Bench and the Bar from both sides of the Causeway congregate to pit their skills against each other in various sports. Held alternatively in Singapore and Malaysia, it is a sporting event many participants eagerly look forward to every year. Not only is the series played in a cordial atmosphere, it offers an excellent opportunity for old friends to catch up and renew ties. Hardly anyone goes home disappointed, for the mixture of friendly competition and social gathering freely encourages the making of new friendships and the re-enforcement of old ties.

The winners of the swimming event	The cricket team looking suave in their signature white attire
The Chief Judge of Malaya, YAA Tan Sri Haidar bin Mohd Noor happily claims back the Judges Cup from Chief Justice Yong Pung How	Law Society of Singapore’s President, Mrs Arfat Selvam, addresses the audience at the closing dinner
The Chief Judge of Malaya, YAA Tan Sri Haidar bin Mohd Noor presenting the Lawyers Mug (Losers Cup) to Chief Justice Yong Pung How

Events Leading to the Games

This year’s Games finally made it to the Singapore shores after the series was initially called off early in the year. Through sheer passion and a determined spirit, the Law Society agreed to host the Games, from 11–13 September, when the Sarawak Bar and the Malaysian Bar Council declined to do so.

The Sports Committee was determined to make the Games a success. And so we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. Meetings were held late into the night to map out the schedule for the games, decide on the venues for the games, the Welcome Reception and Dinner & Dance, and pore over details for transportation, publicity, financing and sponsorship. We even had to crack our heads over the design and colour of the polo t-shirts! Although the schedule was carefully planned, it had to be altered several times to accommodate requests from the Malaysian Bar Council. Convenors were also informed to prepare their teams for the ensuing battles with our northern neighbours.

The First Day

The first contingent of Malaysians arrived on Thursday, 11 September and checked into the Rendezvous Hotel. After a short convenors’ meeting at the Law Society, the convenors made their way to the Singapore Cricket Club (‘SCC’) for the opening events — the Men’s Hockey and Ladies’ Netball. Unfortunately, the Malaysians failed to show up for netball and the umpires awarded the game to Singapore. Over at the hockey pitch, things were more exciting. The Malaysians showed some slick moves and brilliant stick work on the wet pitch to emerge 3–0 winners.

That night, participants and guests from both contingents gathered at the Padang Restaurant and Gilmore Room of the SCC for the Welcome Reception. Many High Court judges were there to grace the occasion. The food ran out quickly and the drinks flowed freely. Many participants lingered on well past midnight, engaged in animated exchanges with one another, reliving beautiful memories and were blissfully ignorant of the time. Some partygoers were even seen slipping away for more action in the local nightspots!

Our netball girls score an easy victory	The bowling teams
The Malaysian and Singapore swimming teams	The badminton teams from both sides of the causeway

The Second Day

On Friday, 12 September, swimming and squash were held at the Singapore Swimming Club. Our swimmers managed to break some records, but unfortunately lost to the Malaysians by a few touches. In squash, our boys overran the Malaysians 4–2. The main event of the day was the Veterans’ Soccer game at the Toa Payoh Stadium. It was a hard-fought match, but we were able to grab a 2–0 lead by half time with two magnificent goals by Rajindar Singh. We managed to contain the Malaysians in the second half and eventually cruised to a 2–0 victory. Thus, by the end of the second day of competition, we were leading the Malaysians by three games to two.

Ladies’ soccer teams	The veterans’ soccer teams
Guests at the welcome reception	The Singapore Hockey team raring to go
The ladies exhibiting a mean tackle during the soccer match

The Final Day

The bulk of the events were held on Saturday, 13 September. Golf was played early in the morning at Pulai Springs, Malaysia. We lost by a couple of missed putts. Cricket was played at the Singapore Cricket Association. Our men were out-manoeuvred by eight wickets.

Over at the Singapore Swimming Club, things were pretty even. As expected, we crushed the Malaysians in tennis and table tennis. The expected fight in bowling did not materialise and we succumbed to the ferocious Malaysian ‘strike’ force. The Malaysian shuttlers also smashed their way to victory in badminton. By end of the morning games, Singapore was trailing the Malaysians by six games to five.

However, later in the afternoon, we managed to even up the overall score. Our soccer ladies did us proud again in their game. It was a bruising affair played under a hot sun, so physical was the game that one of the Malaysian players suffered a fractured thumb! We missed a penalty in the second minute but our ladies continued to pressure the Malaysian goal. The breakthrough came in the second half, when we scored two goals to preserve our unbeaten run in Ladies’ Soccer. Despite the win, something was amiss — the cajoling and hoarse cheers of the effervescent late Palakrishnan. Pala, who was always a fixture at the Games, was particularly supportive of Ladies’ Soccer, often leading the cheers with kompangs and drums. We all sorely missed his presence.

With the overall score tied at six apiece, the decider came down to the final game — Premier Soccer. It was a real thriller, with the men fighting for every ball and crunching tackles flying everywhere. Despite the valiant efforts of our men, we lost by a single goal scored in the last few minutes of the game.

The highlight of the Games was undoubtedly the Dinner & Dance. Many came dressed in their finery. The Chief Justice, the Attorney-General and Supreme Court judges added much glamour to the occasion. The evening was complete with the affable Chelva Rajah SC as the Master of Ceremonies. His repertoire of funny comments, witty repartee, and hilarious ribbing left all of us in stitches and guaranteed us a good time at ‘the best party in town’.

Two performances were put up by the respective countries. Our Kit Ow performed a Chinese song and invited her Malaysian friend Carolyn Oh on stage to sing another number. Their camaraderie and friendship clearly epitomised the spirit of the Games. The Malaysians also put up a short skit entitled ‘Papa, Papa, I Want Some Cookies’. The Malaysians also exhibited their drinking abilities by winning the traditional boat race.

Conclusion

All said, the Games were played in the true tradition of the series. There were smiling faces all around, as we all went away happy that we were able to keep the spirit alive. As Haji Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari, President of the Malaysian Bar, put it, ‘the Malaysians came in search of what they had lost and found it.’

We would like to thank UBS Wealth Management for their sponsorship of the Games.

Ivan Chua
Sports Committee
Law Society of Singapore

 

The Law Awareness Weekend (‘LAW’) Programme 2003

Mrs Arfat Selvam and Prof S Jayakumar tour the exhibition	Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee tours  the exhibition at Woodlands Civic Centre
Brother Emmanuel shares his thoughts on the child and the family

‘Two roads divided into the woods, and I took the one less travelled by.’ This year, for the first time, the Law Awareness Committee took the road less travelled and decided that LAW 2003 would do more than simply provide the public with legal counselling and exhibitions on the law. The Committee decided instead to focus on a theme, ‘The Child and the Family’, and work with community bodies to bring law awareness about this basic unit of society, to the people.

The child and family, the problems and pressures they face cannot exist in a vacuum but must be understood in the context of the larger community. And so the law on child and the family was addressed by the Committee through talks and forums, with participation by other professional bodies rather than just lawyers alone.

For the first time, the LAW programme included closed door and public talks and the event, spanned two weekends, over 20-21 and 27-28 September 2003, co-organised with the South East and North West Community Development Councils respectively.

The LAW opening ceremony at South East CDC (Marine Parade CC) was graced by Guest-of-Honour, Professor S Jayakumar, with Mr Edmond Pereira as the master of ceremonies. It was followed by a closed door talk entitled ‘Rot or Rod: Punishing the Young Offender’ chaired by Mr K S Rajah, SC (Harry Elias Partnership) along with speakers Brother Emmanuel (Chairman of Boys Town), ASP Gerard Gibson (Prisons Department) and Tony Ong (Fei Yue FSC). The thought provoking session resulted in the talk and the question and answer session extending beyond the allotted time by over an hour.

Our Guests-of-Honour at the North West CDC (Woodlands Civic Centre) were Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Mayor Teo Ho Pin and Associate Professor Chin Tet Yung. Past President, Mr Chandra Mohan K Nair, chaired the second closed door talk on ‘These Abilities: Coping with Children with Disabilities’. Dr Lam Chee Meng (Autistic Resource Centre), Dr Balbir Singh (Down Syndrome Association) and ASP Loh Yue Kuan (Singapore Police Force) shared about the difficulties faced by a child who is intellectually challenged.

The closed door talks brought together Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs) and professionals from the Singapore Police Force, the Family and Subordinate Courts, psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors, social workers and lawyers to discuss both the legal and social aspects of punishing the younger offender and coping with children with disabilities. These talks were well attended by about 150 guests at each session. Social workers, community leaders, lawyers, police officers and NGO representatives made up the audience. The question and answer sessions were lively and ideas on law and social reform were candidly discussed.

Both Sunday afternoons saw about 60 members of the public attending the public talks. Mr N Sreenivasan (Chairman of the Law Awareness Committee) chaired the first of the three at Marine Parade CC, entitled ‘World Without Parents’, with speakers Ms Malathi Das (David Nayar & Vardan), Ms Chrys Ong (HELP FSC) and Ms Nur Izzah (Family and Subordinate Courts). On 28 September 2003, Ms Suchitra Ragupathy (Rodyk & Davidson) chaired ‘Signs of Trouble’ with DSP Ho Yow Min (Singapore Police Force), Ms Goh Soo Cheng (Family Justice Centre), Dr Daniel Fung (Institute of Mental Health) and Ms Angela Kong (MCDS) as panellists.

The final public talk was on ‘The Morning After’ chaired by Ms Ellen Lee (Ellen Lee & Company) and the speakers were Ms Chrys Ong (HELP FSC), Ms May Chiang (Tanjong Pagar FSC) and Mr Anthony Yeo (Care and Counselling FSC).

Aside from the public talks, legal clinics and an exhibition were also held for the public. The Law Awareness Committee and the Council would like to thank the following Members who volunteered their time for the legal clinics:

Mr Ismail Atan, Gabriel Law Corporation
Mr S S Krishnasamy, S Bala & Associates
Ms Janice Chia, Ramdas & Wong
Ms Charis Yeo, Ramdas & Wong
Ms Nimaldeep Kaur, Ramdas & Wong
Mr Mohd Lutfi, Lutfi & Co
Ms Eleanor Goh, Shook Lin & Bok
Ms Angeline Loh, Hoh Law Corporation
Mr Kenneth Tan Chong Peng, Asia Law Corporation
Ms Koh Sin Yee, Colin Ng & Partners
Mr Anand Nalachandran, Harry Elias Partnership
Ms Jenny Ng, Jenny Ng
Mr Rajan Chettiar, Rajan Chettiar & Co
Ms Mak Moo Theng, Lawrence Chua & Partners
Mr Raymond Tan, David Siow Chua & Tan
Mr Lam Chee On, ASG Law Corporation
Mr Victor Lim See Wai, Hoh Law Corporation
Ms Lau Man Sai Rosina, Chung Tan & Partners
Ms Lisa Yeo, Lawrence Chua & Partners
Mr Chee Yew Chung, Tan Seck Sam & Partners
Mr Mirza Namazie, Mallal & Namazie
Ms Swanur McGowan, McGowan & Co

The Committee and the Council would like to thank our sponsors, Singapore Pools, NTUC Income, Inter-Ministry on Youth Crime and the National Library Board for their generosity. Thanks must also be extended to our supporters, the Ministry of Community Development and Sports and the Judicial Legal Officers Association. Last, but not least, the Committee must thank the secretariat of the Law Society of Singapore for making the event possible.

Mr Chandra Mohan K Nair, master of ceremonies	Assoc Prof Ho shares a light moment with Mr Philip Jeyaretnam

Gokul Haridas
Law Society of Singapore